So we know that the hobby is officially changing to "Middle-Earth SBG" and we have a decent idea of what GW is going to be doing for the next 4 years. This has gotten me thinking about the films themselves.

We know that GW's has recently re-upped their license, and it would make sense if New Line/WB did this to coincide with more movies. GW will be using the Appendices for new content, which might imply that WB will be doing the same. There are also reports of WB restructuring their releases to be more franchise heavy. We already know that they are making as many DC, Harry Potter and LEGO movies as possible, and they seem to be doing everything they can to catch up to Disney. Well, Disney is releasing a pseudo stand alone Star Wars film, and WB might want to do the same with LotR. My reasoning is as follows:

Their biggest franchise of the last 5 years was the Hobbit. People might not have liked them as much as LotR, but they still made about a billion dollars each. Comparing that Jupiter Ascending and Pan, and the setting of Middle-earth is probably looking as good as (if not better than) DC and the Potterverse. So financially, it makes sense. There's also the fact that they might lose the rights to Middle-Earth if they don't produce a film in a set number of years, as is what is happening with the non-Disney Marvel movies.

From a world point of view, it also makes sense. Just like Rogue One is giving insight into underdeveloped and hinted at stories, the Appendices contain about 6,000 years of possible stories. The Second Age may be off limits due to the Silmarillion, but the Third Age is definitely up for grabs. And there is so much there that can be used.

From the point of view of the films, I legitimately think that they have been setting this up for some time now. The Witch-King was Sauron's greatest servant, but he was never really as powerful or as important as he was shown in the movies. He was shown to utterly dominate Gandalf "I totes killed a Balrog and shattered Saruman's staff with a word" Stormcrow. He wielded a 75 pound flail lime it was nothing, his Kingdom of Angmar was mentioned about 80 times more in BoFA than it ever had been before, and everyone was way more scared of it than they should have been.

All this makes me think that WB is going to announce in the next few years a "Legends of Middle-earth: The Witch-King of Angmar" single film or trilogy. A single film could potentially be long enough to deal with the fall of Arnor and Angmar, while a Trilogy could take place over the last few generations of Arnorian royalty. I would say it would work best as a single movie, maybe starting with Bilbo sitting in Rivendell, writing his book and listening to Elrond. Then it would leave open the possibility of other, standalone "Legends." Just think, Helm Hammerhand, the Kinstrife (pretty sure that's what the Gondorian civil war was called), the War in the North (which would show how truly awesome Dain was, even as a super old man), to name a few.

So what do y'all think? What "Legends" would you like to see? Am I reading way too far into unrelated bits of news? Probably!

I remember reading that Peter Jackson said that he loved the LOTR universe so much that he would love to continue making movies of middle earth for the rest of his live. He was even saying that he'd love to make it in the forms of a series like Game of Thrones.He talked a bit about the life and history of Gandalf to become a golden wire in the series and he talked about 80+ episodes probably until he would be very old and unable to work further himself.

I can't remember what else I read, but this was from an interview with him. He didn't really say that he was indeed going to do this, but he was fantasizing a bit and (maybe) checking for the responses from the public.

It could very well be that you're right about this one here. Who knows. It would be interesting to say at least!

Unfortunately the Silmarillion isn't happening until Christoper Tolkien dies. He won't let that happen in his lifetime.

Peter Jackson has also made it clear he didn't want to direct the Hobbit, much less anything that might come after. If anything does happen in the future, he will most likely produce and ensure it fits with his own movies.

I'd rather have more films than less. Even if they are not great quality, it doesn't mean you have to watch them. We will always have LOTR, if you don't like the others then don't watch it. Simple as that. But, there is a chance that they might make new and awesome films so I'd totally go for it.

personally, i'd love to see anything related to middle-earth ; my dream come true would be a 'third-age' type story where we could see an explanation for Beorn & Radagast's absence in LOTR & Thranduil, Dain & Bard's defence of their realms during the war of the Ring...

I suppose for me there would be two stories. I think the best would be the first war of the ring as told in Unfinished Tales. This would focus on the making of the rings of power, and the resulting war between Sauron and the elves over possession of them. But that would require licensing that is not available right now.

My second choice would be the Witch King’s final onslaught against Arnor. This would tell some backstory about why Aragorn doesn’t have a kingdom to start with and setup the Witch King as a total badass and his fall against Eowyn centuries later. Of course, the problem with this is the Hobbit. Where Peter Jackson established the silly storyline that the wraiths were all dead and in inescapable tombs at this time. In other words PJ’s timeline doesn’t have the wraiths return until just before the Bo5A so how was the Witch King openly attacking and destroying Arnor 500 years earlier?

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